Broad Green Makes More Moves

 

Continuing to double down on its bid to establish a full-service indie production and distribution company, Broad Green, after pursuing a slate of high-end acquisitions with modest returns (“99 Homes,” “I Smile Back”), is now thinking commercial. They’ve greenlit sequel “Bad Santa 2” and “Drumline” director Charles Stone’s original comedy “Ain’t No Half Steppin,” from TV writer Chuck Hayward (Fox’s “Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life”). 

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Matt Alvarez (“Straight Outta Compton,” “Ride Along,” “Friday,” “Barbershop”)—who has signed an exclusive production pact with Broad Green along with veteran producers Bob Cooper and Richard Saperstein— will produce along with Lena Waithe (“Master of None” series regular) and Benjamin Cory Jones (Amazon’s “Hand of God”).

 

“Ain’t No Half Steppin” follows an ambitious black sorority girl who seeks admission to law school and agrees to cross culture lines and teach the rare art of black Greek stepping to a house of white sorority girls who need to save their charter. 

 

Alvarez hopes that this film will do what “Drumline” did: “bringing subcultures into the mainstream.” 

 

“I just skimmed the surface of black Greek life in ‘Drumline,'” said Stone, who wants to ‘delve deep into the art of competitive stepping” with this “brilliant, smart comedy, which audaciously explores the dynamics and identity politics within black and white sororities.” 

 

Josh Reinhold will oversee the project via Alvarez’ production company, while Lauren McCarthy will oversee the project for Broad Green. Their upcoming slate includes “The Infiltrator,” “Last Days in the Desert,” Brain on Fire,” “The Dark Horse” and “Bad Santa 2,” a co-production with Miramax. The studio will also release Terrence Malick’s “Knight of Cups,” “Voyage of Time” and his untitled project starring Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara and Michael Fassbender.